T.Y.B.A. (ENG)
SEM : 5
CCE : 14
John Donne was born in London in 1573. He was the son of a wealthy merchant. His parents were Roman Catholics, and he was raised in their faith before attending Oxford and Cambridge. In 1592, he entered the Inns of Court, where he was engaged reading sensuous pleasant man of town.
From 1590 to 1601, he wrote satires, the songs and
sonnets, and elegies, but they were only shared in manuscript until his
death in 1633. In the same year, he married Anne More secretly. Anne More
was the niece of Sir Egerton. Anne’s father and Lord Egerton did not support
the marriage. Donne had hoped for an ambitious worldly career, but when this wedding
was discovered, it damaged his career, and he was fired and imprisoned, along
with the Church of England priest Samuel Brooke, who married them. After
various personal struggles, he was admitted to the Anglican Church in 1615. He
was appointed dean of St Paul's in 1621, a position he held until his death in
1631.
Donne himself summed their life up nicely in three short
statements:
“John
Donne, Anne Donne, Undone."
👉 HIS POETRY.
Donne
has revolted against Edmund Spenser's followers' easy fluid style, stock
imagery, and pastoral traditions. He sought for thought actuality as well as
clarity or brightness of expression. His poetry is bold and full of energy. His
cynical attitude and analytical thinking inspired him to pen satires such
as Of the Progress of the Soule (1601). His satires were composed in the
couplet form, which was later adopted by Dryden and Pope.
His
love poems, 'the songs and sonnets,' were composed for deep and subtle
assessments of lover sentiments portrayed in strong and surprising language.
These
words begin ‘The Canonization’,
one of Donne’s best-known poems.
‘For God’s sake
hold your tongue, and let me love’.
-
The
canonization
This lyric expressing the sentiment that two lovers have
something the rest of the world will never have: they have their love for each
other, which is greater than anyone else’s. so hold the tongue and be silent to
do their love.
‘O my America! my
new-found-land’.
-
To His
Mistress Going to Bed
The ‘New World’ of the Americas was still truly new when
Donne was writing: Columbus’ famous voyage was only a century before, and it
was in Elizabeth’s reign, towards the end of the sixteenth century, that the
earliest American colonies were established by the English. This quotation from
‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’ likens the woman’s body, revealed to the poet’s
sight, to this wonderful new land that has been discovered.
Death be not proud,
though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful,
for thou art not so,
For those whom thou
think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death,
nor yet canst thou kill me.
-
Holy Sonnets
He tells Death that he ought not to be so proud, even though
for generations people have feared Death and called him “mighty and dreadful”.
The speaker, however, with a voice of absolute
authority on the matter, simply states, “thou art not so”.
Such wilt
thou be to me, who must,
Like th'
other foot, obliquely run ;
Thy
firmness makes my circle just,
And makes
me end where I begun.
-
"A
Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"
Again, Donne establishes unity and integration
by tying the various images together throughout the poem. The allusion to the
circle signifies that the lovers will be together forever in perfect love.
Since compasses create circles, the image of the compass legs separating,
drawing a circle (where the beginning meets the end), and then coming back
together thoroughly illustrates the lover’s journey that “makes me end where I
begun.”
The
rhythm is dramatic and gives the impression of excited conversation. He avoids
most of his contemporaries' smooth, simple rhythms, seeking to draw attention
rather than dull the senses. His love of echoing noises, his careful use of
shortened lines, unusual stress, clear in speech, quick thought, and delicate
emotional responses. He was a psychological poet whose main preoccupation was
feeling. His poetry are always deeply personal, revealing a strong and
complicated personality.
His
well known poems are ‘Aire and Angels’, ‘A Nocturnall upon S. Lucies day’, ‘A
Valediction: forbidding mourning’ and ‘The Extasie’.
After
1610, he wrote religious poetry. Following the death of his wife in 1617, he
wrote his Nineteen Holy Sonnets and lyrics such as A Hymn to God the
Father. They, too, are intense and personal, and they are one of a kind in
their class. They are a sign of a troubled and deep soul. They contain
intellectual expertise, the scholastic learning, wit, and conceits of love
poems.
Donne,
according to Dryden, "affects the metaphysics." He is known as
the founder of the Metaphysical Poets, a term created by Samuel Johnson. George
Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, and John Cleveland are
other members of the loosely associated group.
The
imagery of the Metaphysicals is one of their most distinguishing aspects, and
it is almost always original and striking, often breath-taking, but
occasionally far-fetched and strange. He draws many remarkable comparisond
like, Parted lovers are like the legs of a pair of compasses, his sick body is
a map, his physicians are cosmographers, and Death is his "south-west
discoverie."
👉 HIS
PROSE.
Donne's writing work is notable for its excellence. The pseudo martyr (1610) defended the loyalty oath. Ignatius his conclave (1611) was a satire upon Ignatius Loyola and the Jesuits. His Devotions (1614), which detail his spiritual difficulties while suffering a terrible sickness. They have many of his poetry's features, are directly personal, have deep psychological insight, a vivid imagination, a preoccupation with death, and his own sins.
His
Sermons, in total over 160 , are among his finest written works. The sermon was
at the highest point in 17th-century England. Many of the characteristics of
Donne's poetry may be seen in his sermons, the best of which is perhaps Death's
Duell (1630). They have the same imagery, remarkable wit, keen analytical
intellect, and focus with the terrible (Death/Disease).
We
excerpt from the conclusion of his final sermon, Death's Duell (1630), which
was "called by his majesties household the doctors owne funeral
sermon."
👉 His
Works :
The
flea (1590)
Pseudo-Martyr
(1610)
Ignatius
his conclave (1611)
A
valediction: forbidding Mourning (1611)
The
first Anniversary : An anatomy of the world (1611)
The
second Anniversary : of the progress of the soul (1612)
Devotions
upon emergent occasions (1624)
The
good morrow (1633)
The
canonization (1633)
Holy
Sonnets (1633)
Death
be not proud (1633)
The
Sun rising (1690)
The
dream (1633)
To
his mistress going to bed (1633)
A
hymn to god the father
Work cited
Albert, Edward. History
of English literature, Oxford University Press, 1979.
J Long, William. English
Literature Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English
Speaking world. Rupa Publications, 2015.
Carter, Ronald and John
Mcrae. The Routledge history of literature in English : Britain and Ireland.
Routledge, 2016.
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